Two MTSU researchers will continue their work promoting health education with a $43,000 grant from the Baptist Healing Trust.

Dr. Catherine Crooks

Dr. Stuart Bernstein

Drs. Stuart Bernstein and Catherine Crooks of the Department of Psychology will use the funding to continue the Healthy Raiders Reading Program, a service-learning endeavor that helps members of underserved populations learn more about health care.

In staffing the program, MTSU undergraduate students in the psychology, allied health and pre-medical disciplines learn how to explain to clients the importance of becoming active participants in maintaining their own health.

The program partners with Read to Succeed, St. Thomas Mobile Medical Unit, Head Start and Murfreesboro City and Rutherford County Schools under the Collaborative Learning and Leadership Institute.

“The work of Drs. Bernstein and Crooks speaks to our primary mission in the college,” said Terry Whiteside, dean of the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences.

“They are not only training the next generation of professionals to make an immediate impact upon graduation, but they are using that training in real world settings to address one of our most intractable issues, health literacy.”

The Baptist Healing Trust, a private foundation, awarded more than $1.07 million in its most recent grant cycle. It has provided more than $69 million to worthy causes since 2002.

For more information, contact Bea Perdue, development director of the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, at 615-898-2417 or bea.perdue@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)